By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Fugitive and convicted murderer-rapist Thabo Bester and his lover Nandipha Magudumana have landed at Lanseria airport in Johannesburg early this morning.
The two were arrested last Friday in Arusha in Tanzania after they fled South Africa last month.
Dr Nandipha is soon expected to make her first appearance in court on possible charges of defeating the ends of justice, aiding and abetting a fugitive and murder.
Bester is also expected to face additional charges in relation to the daring prison escape.
After landing on South African soil, Bester and Dr Nandipha were ushered directly from the plane into a waiting nyala amid heavy police presence and were taken to Kgosi Mampuru Prison.
A South African delegation consisting of the Department of Justice and police officials departed for the East African country on Sunday to bring the fugitives back to South Africa.
Meanwhile, Police Minster Bheki Cele and Justice Minister, Ronald Lamola will on Thursday morning update the nation surrounding the return of Bester and Dr Nandipha’s arrival back in South Africa.
Several accomplices have to far been arrested in the saga surrounding Bester and Dr Nandipha.
On Thursday, Police confirmed that a 44-year-old employee contracted to a company that installs CCTV cameras at the Mangaung Correctional Centre (MCC) where convicted rapist and murderer Bester escaped from, has been arrested while another who was allegedly driving Dr Nandipha’s car is in custody and being questioned by authorities.
Bester escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein in May 2022 after it was initially believed he had committed suicide by setting himself alight in his cell.
However, the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), which originally declared him dead, confirmed that the charred body found in his cell was not that of Bester who was convicted in 2012.